Book Promo Sites

Crosbie’s List of Book Promo Sites

I’ve used most of these sites at one time or another. Some of them are free, others have free and paid services. Some are UK-based sites and I’ve added sites that are exclusively for erotica writers. There are more too; they spring up almost daily, and that’s a good thing because as my little July experiment revealed, if I want to find readers I need to get out there and work at it. I can’t sit back and wait for it to happen, and fortunately, for me and you there are many ways to get the word out there. Good luck, and if your sales stall don’t worry, there are lots of places you can go to find readers.

This is just a sample of the kind of information you’ll find in my new book:How I Sold 30,000 eBooks on Amazon’s Kindle
Available from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Hi again Martin
Thanks so much for this incredible mount of information. You are an inspiration to us all. I have a question—I will be included on a panel of successful self-published authors at a GLAWS (Greater Los Angeles Writing society) conference in October. I would love to share this list with due acknowledgement to you and your writing. Is that OK with you?
Thanks again—I’ll be following your continued success.

Hi Ester,
yes, by all means, please share it. I just released my new book (it’s on the clickable book link above). It contains other lists that you may find useful too-lists of Indie-friendly reviewers, editing services that won’t break the bank, and lots of other stuff. You may want to take a peek at the book and see if it might help you too. Thanks again and good luck!

Agree. And, thank you Vitor. I’ve added Bookpraiser to my revised list and will be including it in the 2014 version of my Self-Publishing guidebook. I think they’re a great site. I appreciate you adding them.

Just found this site via Authors Publish Magazine issue 36 and I’m so glad I followed the link. Fantastic list, can’t wait to have a go at it. Great site. I’ll be joining the Flash Fiction competition plus other things.

Martin: Thank you for the updated list. I have used many of the sites you mention. Here’s what I’ve noticed: When I run a free promo on one of my titles, each and every one of the sites you mention are tops and the downloads are fantastic.The free promo gets a book visible, garners reviews and if the promotion is successful, the book rises on Amazon’s TOP 100 Free for a little extra visibility and one hopes for crossover sales of the author’s other titles. However, when I run a promotion at a price discount or 99 cents, sales are dismal. That would be all right, too–except many of the sites charge the author for promotions based on the number of readers/viewers in their audience or on subscription lists. Only one site bills the author based on the number of books sold. That works. I love it. Yet, almost to a site, each began life promoting free ebooks. Avid readers scour sites for free reads. It is difficult to get a readership that is so used to FREE titles to part with $$$. I understand that.The digital readership has been conditioned to expect FREE. It’s in their psyche. Even Amazon recognizes that–and promotes Borrow FREE with Amazon Prime. I am not a best-selling indie author. But, I have colleagues who are–and boy! They have to shell out big $$$ for promotions. In 2013, those indie authors sold enough books to pay for the promotion on sites such as Bookbub and Kindle Nation Daily, plus earn some lovely royalties. And, the titles moved onto Amazon’s Top 100 Paid and stayed there for days or weeks. A Bookbub promotion last week by a best-selling indie author did not garner enough paid sales to put the book on Amazon’s Top 100 Paid and keep there for more than a few hours. I think that is telling. Other’s may differ. I’m just saying…Thus, I’m looking forward to the revised edition of your book and perhaps some new ideas on how we might best promote our books. I love your book, by the way. I read it and reread it and reread it. I learn something each time.

Jackie, those are really interesting results. I have to say that currently, free is not working for my books. But, 99 cent sales are. I know that it does still work for some authors and obviously you’re having some success with it. I know of others who have a large catalog of books, mostly in series and they swear by it too.
I’ll continue to try and keep the list current. Good luck to you and thanks for sharing your results, that helps all of us.

Hi Ed, thanks for commenting. As I mentioned above Free isn’t working for me right now but it’s certainly working for some others.
If you have books in a series it can totally work.
But, wait two or three months and that could change again.

Hi giazzpet, these sites are meant to help promote eBooks which are on sale and/or free. Some are paid advertising, some are free. I have used some of these sites to promote my own children’s eBooks when I’ve marked them down to 99 cents. Not all sites feature all genres, so you will have to look through them to determine which ones are right for you. Every Sunday at 9 am Pacific time, Indies Unlimited features print books under $15. Otherwise, I do not know of any sites that feature print book promotions for free.

I’ve just stumbled across this and would like to thank you so much for all the information, Martin. You’ve obviously put a lot of time into finding it. Thanks also to other suggestions from readers/commentators. Kudos to you all 🙂

This list of sites is great and so, too, the discussion in this thread. One problem we all face comes when it’s time to promote a new book. So many promo sites expect multiple reviews, yet if a book is new, it won’t have reviews. The review requirement stops promotion cold on many sites and seems to be an unfair stumbling block for new authors who don’t have a dozen followers ready with 4-5 star reviews moments after each book comes out.

The issue becomes more absurd when there are editorial reviews that aren’t counted because they’re in part of the book’s descriptive information rather than Amazon’s tally.

Hi:
I received this email in my email’s in box and was quite bemused by what appeared to me as book-promotion sites that are based on making one’s book available for free. This is a new one to me–it just seems to get sicker and sicker every day. I have never heard of any business model in the world that is based on giving merchandise away for free! Writing is very difficult and time-consuming and challenging: One has to love it to do–how does one promote his book by making it available for free? The whole idea sounds so preposterous! And the frivolous dependence on reviews to sell books reveals another aspect of plain vanity. While a good review furnishes reasonable insight and inspiration about a book, everyone does not necessarily enjoy the same thing in a book: One person may give a book a five-star rating while another reading the same book may not even give it a star!

Additionally, the whole idea of book reviews is subjective and inherently biased. Books that do not reflect one’s particular worldview are automatically going to be voted down; one doesn’t need brain science to figure that out. The overwhelming emphasis on reviews is a symptom of a vane world that is driven by mere trifles. Writers must find more meaningful and creative ways to sell their hard-earned books, rather than merely giving them away for free. The whole world just seems to be going more and more off the deep end as the days go by. Normal people need to wake up and stop following these insane fads that are going nowhere but into the ditch.

Totally agree. Some people won’t want to hear this, but new writers are so desperate for their names to be seen in print that they are happy to give their work away. For those of us who have spent a long time in the publishing/writing industry it makes no sense and in the long run devalues everyone’s work because writing (like other art forms including painting and sculpture) are seen as ‘creative’ pursuits and therefore belong to everyone to enjoy for free. I don’t give my work away and I don’t rely on posted reviews. I have developed a relationship with my readers who email me directly and I value those emails more than any ‘shows of support’ that are posted on public sites.

Well, I am pleasantly surprised to find that my comment was published after all; I had made the comment sometime ago and had forgotten about it. I too take my writing craft very seriously and spend hours writing both fiction and non-fiction. I am passionate about writing–and would write for free! It is very unfortunate that so many non writers have jumped on the writing bandwagon, thus cheapening the golden pearl of writing; however, I do believe that real writers with substantive content and far-reaching ideas eventually outshine all the others in it for the wrong reasons. The talent of writing is a gift from God; real writers are born–not manufactured or mass-produced: They have unique idea streams that are captivating and transfixing. Eventually, they climb out of obscurity into the plain view of the whole world.

Thanks for this useful list. Giving away the first book in a series for free still seems to be working, but less so with standalone books. There are promiscuous readers who will download a book merely because it’s free, even if they don’t usually read that genre, and then when they discover they don’t like it they will give it a one star.

Moulton advises: “Writers must find more meaningful and creative ways to sell their hard-earned books, rather than merely giving them away for free.”

If he would like to start a list of meaningful and creative ways to sell books them I’m sure we can all add to it. 🙂

Thankyou very much for this list. Highly useful, and I will be working my way slowly down it. When you are new to the writing world and hit a block on where to promote your book, this list is great to dip into.

Thank you, Martin! My laptop recently had a nervous breakdown & will probably never work again – so I’ve been desperately trying & failing to remember all those lovely sites that help Indies promote. I found your site via ENovelAuthors & your list has been a life saver, very grateful to you for sharing, good karma on you!

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